BAD idea! no where near enough power unless you are FEET away, and you do a head shot. plus, in mi., rimfires are not legal to take deer with. they may not be in your area as well.

Sunray

January 25, 2009, 02:04 AM

Hunting deer with a rimfire isn't legal anywhere. However, in a survival scenario(Don't even think about it at any other time.), a very close(when moooose102 says feet, he's not kidding) head shot with a solid, no HP's, it'd work with a rifle. A .22 Mag out of a pistol doesn't have the same velocity.

bang_bang

January 25, 2009, 02:22 AM

.22 Mag rifle will drop them. In the head or in the vitals with a good bullet.

My Grandfather killed alot of deer with a Colt Woodsman in .22lr while sitting on the back porch (head shots). That being said, if your life depends on it I would say go for it. Otherwise, use enough gun.

T2E

f4t9r

January 25, 2009, 09:49 PM

Not a good idea. Use something bigger

JoeDanger

January 26, 2009, 09:26 AM

Sure, I guess if you're Annie Oakley, and the best stalk-hunter in the world.

MCgunner

January 26, 2009, 09:33 AM

I can shoot a handgun good 'nuf for 50 yard head shots, but why? I shun the .223 as a pop gun, hunt with a .22 mag? I have a .22 mag rifle, would hunt turkey with it, small game, and deer if I were in dire straights and it's all I had. But, as everyone else says, rimfires are illegal most everywhere for deer. I've got 3 real deer rifles in major caliber plus a few milsurps and my pistols are in .357, .45 colt, and .30-30 winchester. Shotguns, Hawken .50 cal, why hunt with a rimfire, for the stunt of doing it? Don't make sense to me.

John828

January 26, 2009, 11:05 AM

No!!!

godsdog

January 26, 2009, 03:55 PM

Didn't say I was gonna hunt with one, just curios. More interested in survival application. Sometimes I don't understand why people get on there high horse about the .22 round. As far as I remember a teenage girl who didn't like mondays.... once took out quite a few "larger animals" with .22 long from quite a distance... and they wer'n't head shots !

~z

January 26, 2009, 03:59 PM

What? Tell me more of this girl?
~z

godsdog

January 26, 2009, 04:10 PM

I can't remember her name off the top of my head but one monday morning she opened up on a school yard, must have been late seventies. I think she killed two or three adults including a cop. She was shooting from her bedroom window with a scooped .22 rifle from across the street. When asked why, she said she didn't like mondays.

Ben Shepherd

January 26, 2009, 04:10 PM

Survival application? Yes. Use solids, get close, head shot.

Anything other than eat or die though, don't do it.

~z

January 26, 2009, 04:20 PM

Dang, sounds like an old girlfriend of mine. To answer your question from my point of view and in my experience (not on deer but feral pigs), yes, you dont need much more, choose your shots and place them well, disrupt the CNS and they go down. Heart/lung shots they go down fairly soon. Yes, there are better calibers, will the .22 or .22mag work, in a word, YES
~z

testosterone

January 26, 2009, 04:25 PM

We slaughter cows with a .22lr pistol.

It instantaneously dispatches a 2000 pound animal with a standard velocity bullet to the head.

Whitetail skulls are no match for a 22 magnum.

All that said, its extraordinarily bad form to shoot deer with .22lr and .22 mags and is probably against the law in every state, for the very reason that it is not enough to reliably anchor the animal with a cross shot through the chest(heart/lung).

godsdog

January 26, 2009, 04:53 PM

Her name was Brenda Ann Spencer... she was 16... she killed two and wounded 9, including a police officer. 1979 San Diego, CA.

CoRoMo

January 26, 2009, 05:52 PM

Posted by Sunray
Hunting deer with a rimfire isn't legal anywhere.

You're wrong.
There are many places where it is legal.

From Montana's Big Game Regulations (http://fwp.mt.gov/content/getItem.aspx?id=32378)
Firearms:
General Season
• There is no rifle or handgun caliber limitation for the taking of
big game animals.